As Microsoft continues to deliver on improving the Java developer experience on Windows Azure, I am happy to tell you that today, at the Professional Developers Conference 2010 (PDC 10) held here in Redmond, we are announcing a new set of tools based on Eclipse and updated client libraries (SDK) for Windows Azure.

This means that customers can now choose to upload the Java environment of their choice and run it on Windows Azure which, as you know, is an Open Platform that can provide language choice such as C#, PHP or Java. http://www.WindowsAzure.com/interop/

Windows Azure & Java

As such, I am happy to announce today the Windows Azure tools for Eclipse/Java, an open source project sponsored by Microsoft and developed by partner Soyatec, an international software company and Eclipse solution provider. We expect Soyatec to be able to release a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure tools for Eclipse/Java available by the end of 2010.

These tools allow Java developers to build, test Java applications and deploy these directly to Windows Azure. While these tools have similar features to the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse/PHP, which we announced earlier this month, these latest tools are designed for Java developers.

I am also happy to tell you that today, at PDC 10, we announced that Soyatec is releasing the version 2.0 of the Windows Azure SDK for Java. This SDK enables Java developers easily use Windows Azure storage services in their web applications. I’m really excited about the progress we are making. As you may remember, at PDC 09, we delivered the first version of this Windows Azure SDK for Java (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/interoperability/archive/2009/11/17/windows-azure-sdks-for-php-and-java-and-tools-for-eclipse-version-1-0-released-today.aspx).

Windows Azure & PHP updates

I’m also pleased to share with you the news that we are continuing our work on the PHP front, and are also announcing the availability of the new November 2010 CTP of the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse/PHPas well as a new November 2010 CTP of theWindows Azure Companion, a tool that aims to provide a seamless experience when installing and configuring PHP platform-elements (PHP runtime, extensions) and Web applications running on Windows Azure.

In addition, we are launching a new online technical/resource website dedicated to Windows Azure and PHP. This site will be a one stop shop for PHP developers to discover, learn and get expertise on Windows Azure. A beta version of the site is available at http://AzurePHP.interoperabilitybridges.com

I have also recorded a session, which is available on demand, in which I demo the latest version of the Windows Azure and PHP tools and SDK. The session, titled “Developing PHP Applications on the Windows Azure Platform,” shows how Microsoft’s Windows Azure Platform provides a comprehensive set of services for building and running scalable PHP applications targeting cloud. The recording of the session is here: http://bit.ly/93Jgib.In the session I go on a coding tour using open source development tools (Eclipse, Command line), SDKs and show methods to deploy applications (like Drupal) on the Windows Azure platform.

I’m excited about all that we announced today and look forward to updating you on lots of exciting things moving forward. Stay tuned as we will follow up shortly with more technical articles and tutorials detailing scenarios using Windows Azure with PHP and Java. As always, do give us your feedback at: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=266877&atid=1135912

Today we’re releasing the October 2010 Community Technology Preview (CTP). This update is based on your feedback and includes many new features, as well as enhancing the workflow of features for version 2, which should be released by November. Here’s a quick rundown of the features we’re introducing: